Spain is divided into three parts, Bœtica, Lusitania, Tarraconensis.[586]
Bœtica, so called from the river Bœtis,[587] was the southern division of it, and comprehended the present kingdom of Granada, Andalusia, part of New Castile, and Estremadura. Cadiz, called by the ancients Gades and Gadira, is a town situated in a small island of the same name, on the western coast of Andalusia, about nine leagues from Gibraltar. It is well known that Hercules, having extended his conquests to this place, halted, from the supposition that he was come to the extremity of the world.[588] He here erected two pillars, as monuments of his victories, pursuant to the custom of that age. The place has always retained the name, though time has quite [pg 123] destroyed these pillars. Authors are divided in opinion, with regard to the place where these pillars were erected. Bœtica was the most fruitful, the wealthiest, and most populous part of Spain.[589] It contained two hundred cities, and was inhabited by the Turdetani, or Turduli. On the banks of the Bœtis stood three large cities, Castulo towards the source, Corduba lower down, the native place of Lucan and the two Senecas, lastly, Hispalis.[590]
Lusitania is bounded on the west by the Ocean, on the north by the river Durius,[591] and on the south by the river Anas.[592] Between these two rivers is the Tagus. Lusitania was what is now called Portugal, with part of Old and New Castile.
Tarraconensis comprehended the rest of Spain, that is, the kingdoms of Murcia and Valentia, Catalonia, Arragon, Navarre, Biscay, the Asturias, Gallicia, the kingdom of Leon, and the greatest part of the two Castiles. Tarraco,[593] a very considerable city, gave its name to this part of Spain. Pretty near it lay Barcino.[594] Its name gives rise to the conjecture, that it was built by Hamilcar, surnamed Barca, father of the great Hannibal. The most renowned nations of Tarraconensis were the Celtiberi, beyond the river Iberus;[595] the Cantabri, where Biscay now lies; the Carpetani, whose capital was Toledo; the Oretani, &c.
Spain, abounding with mines of gold and silver, and peopled with a martial race of men, had sufficient to excite both the avarice and ambition of the Carthaginians, who were more of a mercantile than of a warlike disposition, from the very genius and constitution of their republic. They doubtless knew that their Phœnician ancestors, (as Diodorus relates,)[596] taking advantage of the happy ignorance of the Spaniards, with regard to the immense riches which were hid in the bowels of their lands, first took from them these precious treasures, in exchange for commodities of little value. They likewise foresaw, that if they could once subdue this country, it would furnish them abundantly with well-disciplined troops for the conquest of other nations, as actually happened.
The occasion of the Carthaginians first landing in Spain, was to assist the inhabitants of Cadiz, who were invaded by the Spaniards.[597] That city was a colony from Tyre, as well as Utica and Carthage, and even more ancient than either of them. The Tyrians having built it, established there the worship of Hercules, and erected, in his honour, a magnificent temple, which became famous in after ages. The success of this first expedition of the Carthaginians made them desirous of carrying their arms into Spain.
It is not exactly known in what period they entered Spain, nor how far they extended their first conquests. It is probable that these were slow in the beginning, as the Carthaginians had to do with very warlike nations, who defended themselves with great resolution and courage. Nor could they ever have accomplished their design, as Strabo observes,[598] had the Spaniards (united in a body) formed but one state, and mutually assisted one another. But as every district, every people, were entirely detached from their neighbours, and had not the least correspondence nor connection with them, the Carthaginians were forced to subdue them one after another. This circumstance occasioned, on one hand, the loss of Spain; but on the other, protracted the war, and made the conquest of the country much more difficult.[599] Accordingly it has been observed, that though Spain was the first province which the Romans invaded on the continent, it was the last they subdued;[600] and was not entirely subjected to their power, till after having made a vigorous opposition for upwards of 200 years.
It appears from the accounts given by Polybius and Livy, of the wars of Hamilcar, Asdrubal, and Hannibal in Spain, which will soon be mentioned, that the arms of the Carthaginians had not made any considerable progress in that country before that period, and that the greatest part of Spain was then unconquered. But in twenty years' time they completed the conquest of almost the whole country.
At the time that Hannibal set out for Italy, all the coast of Africa, from the Philænorum Aræ, by the great Syrtis, to the pillars of Hercules, was subject to the Carthaginians.[601] Passing through the straits, they had conquered all the western coast of Spain, along the ocean, as far as the Pyrenean hills. The coast, which lies on the Mediterranean, had been almost wholly subdued by them; and it was there they had built Carthagena; and they were masters of all the country, as far as the river Iberus, which bounded their dominions. Such was, at that time, the extent of their empire. In the centre of the country, some nations had indeed held out against all their efforts, and could not be subdued by them.
Conquests of the Carthaginians in Sicily.—The wars which the Carthaginians carried on in Sicily are more known. I shall here relate those which were waged from the reign of Xerxes, who first prompted the Carthaginians to carry their arms into Sicily, till the first Punic war. This period includes near two hundred and twenty years; viz. from the year of the world 3520 to 3738. At the breaking out of these wars, Syracuse, the most considerable as well as most powerful city of Sicily, had invested Gelon, Hiero, and Thrasybulus, (three brothers who succeeded one another,) with the sovereign power. After their deaths, a democracy or popular government was established in that city, and subsisted above sixty years. From this time, the two Dionysius's, Timoleon, and Agathocles, bore the sway in Syracuse. Pyrrhus was afterwards invited into Sicily, but he kept possession of it only a few years. Such was the government of Sicily during the wars of which I am going to treat. They will give us great light with regard to the power of the Carthaginians, at the time that they began to be engaged in war with the Romans.